Easy to make paper cats with a Cat’s Cradle game tail. Cat’s Cradle Cat Class Gifts are the perfect party favor or allergy-friendly class treat!

If you have construction paper, a hole punch, and elastic string you and your kiddos can put these Cat’s Cradle Cats together easily!

A perfect class gift idea that gives them a cute cat and a game to play. Both a colorful Birthday cat or a spooky Halloween black Cat’s Cradle cat will be a hit with the kids! Also great as a craft or party favor for your cat-lovers birthday party.

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I love an unique gift for class parties. It’s something I’ve always tried to do since the kids were in preschool. Many schools these days don’t allow birthday treats or Halloween candy, so a class gift that is unique and candy-free is a must! These Cat’s Cradle Cats are perfect for Halloween or Birthdays!

Other class gift ideas

Airplane Valentines (with free printable)

Witch Broom Halloween Class Treats

Coco Inspired Sugar Skulls and Color-changing Bracelets

Valentine’s Day Pencils (with free printable)

Cat’s Cradle

Have you ever played Cat’s Cradle? I remember playing it often when I was younger.

My daughter came home with a loop of yarn last year from Kindergarten. I had completely forgotten about the game! So, we started getting into it again.

If you’re unsure how to play, I like this Cat’s Cradle video from The Kids Should See This.

It’s such an easy game to play. All you need is a loop of string, so you can take it anywhere. It’s also pretty great for the kids’ critical thinking and fine motor skills.

Also Read: The Power of Play: Promote Play for Learning

Cat’s Cradle Cats Class Gift

As I mentioned before, I have a lot of fun trying to come up with cute class gifts that are a little more unique.

Once we started playing with the Cat’s Cradle, I got to thinking about what an easy thing it is to make for a class of 20 or more. I also love that it gives them a game to play.

Of course, we can’t just hand them some string. Well, you can, and it would be a lot less time-consuming… but where’s the fun in that! We decided to make the Cat’s Cradle the tail of a cat.

Also Read: Personalized Halloween Name Pumpkins

Perfect Halloween Class Gift!

I originally planned for this to be a Halloween party class gift because it’s perfect for a black cat. It’s just too perfect and cute!

However, my daughter’s birthday is only a handful of days away from Halloween and we try to send something in for her birthday. In this case, we took the same idea and made the cats colorful.

Despite how cute the colorful kitties are, I still love the black Halloween cat idea maybe most of all!

Also Read: Halloween Spooky Scene Flashlight Craft

Making the Cat’s Cradle Cat

These are very simple cats to make with any colored construction paper, glue, hole punch, and elastic string.

Doing everything in an assembly line style definitely helps. Cut all the strips of paper, cut all the feet, trace all the heads, cut all the heads, glue everything, punch the holes, tie all the Cat’s Cradle strings, add the tail.

Body

The easiest part of the cat is creating the body out of strips of construction paper. Using a paper cutter or paper trimmer makes it very quick!

The strips of paper should be between 1-2 inches in width and about 8-9 inches in length. Make it easy on yourself! I say 8-9 inches because that is the shorter side of most construction paper. I use the guide at the end of my paper cutter and to decide the width. You can also trace the line with a ruler and just use the width of the ruler to make it simple.

Feet

Also super simple, are the cute little feet. They are literally just a normal heart cut out of the construction paper. Fold in half and cut the heart to make two paws.

Head

Getting the cat head right is a little easier if you create a template first. Sketch an outline of the size and shape you want. Then fold it in half and cut along your favorite side to make it symmetrical. Use the template to trace and create all the heads.

Face

To add the tail (at the end) you’re going to need a hole punch. The great thing about that is that this makes the perfect, easy pieces to create your Cat’s Cradle Cat face.

Empty your hole punch and use the circles of colored paper to create the faces. Easy! I can also tell you, from my artistic ability, this is a big improvement over the face I drew with markers!

Also Read: Basketball Cup and Ball Craft

How to assemble the Cat’s Cradle Cat

First, you are going to make a loop out of your paper strips. This will be the body. You can secure with a tiny pieces of tape on the inside of the loop to hold. On the outside paper seam, use some glue or glue stick and attach the head.

Next, place some glue on the center fold of your heart feet. Attach the feet at the bottom of the paper loop. The head will likely be heavier and fall forward, but the cat will stand when you add your Cat’s Cradle tail.

Cat’s Cradle Cat Tail

You can use any string or yarn for your Cat’s Cradle cat tail. However, the game is easiest with elastic string.

This set of rainbow, black, and white elastic string is what we used. I searched for a long time and found this to be the best value. That being said, I do think the 2mm elastic string would be even better than this 1mm thickness.

You can also get a set of 14 Cat’s Cradle strings or 20 Cat’s Cradle strings on Amazon!

I like the black tail with the Halloween black Cat’s Cradle cat. However, the rainbow tail still looks good with it and, to be honest, the rainbow string seems to make the game a little easier. The different portions of the string stand out more with the rainbow colors.

Length of the tail

This is something I looked up so many times! The suggestions vary from 40 inches to 58 inches. I would say it depends on the age of the children or adults using them. To me, 40 inches is a little small and leaves you with a tighter game. However, 58 inches seems excessive. The length of our string is right around 48 inches.

Once again, do what is easiest for you. I had a 12 inch ruler and I pulled the string across it four times. Done! The easiest way to measure and cut each string is to leave one as a template, make masking tape marks along your table, or keep going from one end to the other cutting the string until you have a handful.

Once they are all cut, tie a small knot in one end to make your Cat’s Cradle loop.

Attaching the Cat’s Cradle cat tail

Find the point at the back of your cat (the paper loop) that you want to place the tail. Instead of placing it directly opposite of the head, going just a little bit toward the top of the cat’s back will even out the balance and help your cat to stand.

Punch two holes vertically along the paper circle. Attach the Cat’s Cradle cat tail with a slip knot around the two holes. Be careful when pulling it through or the paper will tear.

I hold the string at the knot and go down through the top hole and back out the bottom hole. Then, I place my finger on the string above the top hole and pull straight until the end of the loop meets my finger. When I pull the knotted end all the way through that loop until it creates the long tail.

Also Read: Witch Broom Halloween Class Treats

Cat’s Cradle Cat as Class Gifts or Party Favors

We’re not typically cat people over here. If you, or your kids are, this will make a fantastic party favor for cat lovers! We had a bunny birthday party, so I can see this as the perfect party favor for a cat birthday party.

For Halloween, black Cat’s Cradle cats make for the perfect candy-free treat! Our school prefers to keep Halloween celebrations candy-free which is why we like these, paper airplanes, color-changing bracelets, and other toys.

Also Read: Coco-Inspired Sugar Skull Halloween Color-Changing Bracelets

Which do you like better? Black cats for Halloween or colorful cats for birthdays?

Now that you know how to make them, and you know how to play the game from the link above, what are you going to make these Cat’s Cradle Cats for?